The New Making Renaissance: Programmable Matter and Things

Today’s emerging “Manufacturing Renaissance” is radically different from the more traditional tides of innovation seen over fifty years of computation such as Moore’s Law. Instead this disruptive innovation is more akin to the introduction of major transformative technologies such as the printing press, the programmable loom, and the computer itself. This new renaissance, driven by personal, creative, and independent manufacturing, will change not only the way that most items are designed, manufactured, and delivered, but also radically expand the range of potential artifacts, materials, interactivity, and applications.

This Manufacturing Renaissance has at its root the confluence of three major technological trends: (1) accessible, cheap, and fast creation of matter in new forms (e.g. 3D printing and digital fabrication technologies), (2) on-demand electronics, and (3) programmable intelligence in every object. The creativity and change unleashed by this revolution could fundamentally change how society operates with a return to craftsmanship, an adoption of mass customization, and new models of sharing, crowd-funding, and making.

This two-day workshop brought together experts in 3D printing, digital fabrication, synthetic biology, printable electronics, end-user programming, manufacturing, robotics, design, healthcare, CAD/CAM, and intellectual property. The goal of this workshop was to inspire the computing community to envision future trends and opportunities within this critical emerging landscape. Where are the potential opportunities, disruptive trends, and blind spots? Are there new questions and directions that deserve greater attention by the research community and new investments in computing research?

Computing Community Consortium

The mission of Computing Research Association's Computing Community Consortium (CCC) is to catalyze the computing research community and enable the pursuit of innovative, high-impact research. CCC conducts activities that strengthen the research community, articulate compelling research visions, and align those visions with pressing national and global challenges. CCC communicates the importance of those visions to policymakers, government and industry stakeholders, the public, and the research community itself.